Tag: books

This Wednesday I’m reading…

A Visit from the Goon Squad: This is my audiobook selection for the week and the next book we are reading for the book talk at work. It was my responsibility to pick for June and July with the Summer Reading Program going on I thought it would be nice for the books to fit the theme which is Library’s Rock. This was a bit challenging to work around given the books available through participating libraries with book sets. The first title I selected was booked for the year so I went with number two. I don’t know much about this one except that Goodreads tells me it is music related. Finger’s crossed it is a good choice. I have struck out with the two titles I have suggested so far…

Vampire’s Faith: This is a review request book that requested through Goodreads. I have only read one page so far so I could count it as having started for this post. The series used to be finished but I guess the author has more adventures for this world. I hope I haven’t forgotten too much.

Souls on Earth: Still plugging along. I try to read a few pages each night before bed but I think that is the wrong strategy for NF. After a page or two, the words start swimming on the page and I give up and go to sleep. After a day of working in the garden, I just can’t concentrate on NF. Maybe I need to read a few pages each morning before I get up as I tend to lounge in bed after taking my pills as I need to wait an hour before eating. An hour each day and I should have this done in no time.

Welcome to another contribution to the wildly popular Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week they ask us to share lists on the following:

December 12: Top Ten Favorite Books of 2017

I’m not feeling well today so I’m hoping to churn out quite a few of these TTT posts and schedule them. This week’s list is the ten books I enjoyed most in 2017. I’m going to pick from my five-star reviews and link the picture to their reviews instead of their Goodreads page. The books are listed in countdown order with book ten being my favorite of the year.

The Ten Books I Enjoyed Most in 2017.

This long-established series is still one of my favorites. I enjoyed the last edition immensely and have my fingers crossed that I’m approved for an e-arc of the upcoming release.

The third book in this spin-off Black Dagger Brotherhood series is going to release soon. This is book two and I enjoyed it quite a bit but more for the glimpses of the Brothers than the main couple.

The second book by Mr. Weir was not quite as good as The Martian but still highly enjoyable!

Hard to believe this series only has one more book… Love this series and I’ll miss it.

This book was a surprise in that I requested it on a whim while looking for science fiction titles up for review. It was so good I suggested it to the library I work for so our patrons could enjoy it too.

This book was a total surprise as well. I tried to read the next book by this author not once but twice then I decided to listen to the first book and absolutely loved it! Was delighted to learn online today that there will be a second book.

After a disappointing book or two in this series, I was delighted to thoroughly enjoy this book.

Another whim of a request at Net Galley that ended up being a delight to read.

This was I recommended for purchase back in 2015 for my library when I was looking to bolster our science fiction collection.

This was my favorite read from 2017, hands down no question. This was also the last book in the Chicagoland Vampires series and perhaps the most perfect series finally that I have ever read.

Well, there you have my list for this week. What was your favorite read of 2017? Leave it in the comments or share your Top Ten Tuesday list!

Good Monday morning everyone. I tried to think up a clever title but couldn’t think of anything… Not a lot of reading going on as my husband has time off, he needed to use his vacation days before the end of the year or lose them so he took this week off just to mess with my schedule. Not really, but it feels like that as he seems to think I do nothing on my days off but lounge around the house waiting for him to make plans. Sorry, slightly annoyed. I’ve also started this Whole30 elimination diet which is going pretty good but might be making me a tad sugar-deprived crabby.

I do have a book review coming for you today as I binge listened to my current audiobook before it expired. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next two installments in the trilogy that I have already put on hold. I am also reading a non-fiction title It Starts with Food written by the creators of the Whole30 diet. Not the typical book I might pick up but I thought since I was doing the program I might as well read all their reasoning behind eliminating all these food groups. Well, I know why but I have a library card and know how to use it so I thought I might check out the book.

Anyway, I have a review to write and might try to get some reading in before the husband thinks up something for us to do. Have a great week! Happy reading.

Welcome to another contribution to the wildly popular Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week they ask us to share lists on the following:

April 11: Top Ten Of The Most Unique Books I’ve Read

I’m not really sure what they mean by unique books in this week’s topic. So I’m going to share ten books, that I enjoyed, that were not typical reads for me. Books that were outside of the normal genres that I tend to stick to.

Ten books that were not typical reads for me.

This book made the list because it was written by my husband and if that isn’t unique or atypical I don’t know what is. This is actually a good story set in Bulgaria of the 1980’s during the Name Change Campaign when the communist Bulgarian government attempted to systematically eliminate all Turks from their population. While it is fiction it is based upon events my husband lived through as a member of the Turkish minority. Plug over.

Not one to read much non-fiction or books about farming or lesbians this was a fun read about two women adapting to rural life.

While this book is in a genre I do enjoy from time to time, dystopian. The way it was written is what makes it unique for me. No punctuation and no chapter breaks it is written like it is a journal of someone living through the events of the book.

I’m not one to read scary stories and this is a truly frightening tale. I read it quite some time ago, 20 years…. and it is not one I would pick up now. I would be headed for the emergency room convinced I had this disease.

I’ve only read two biographies and this is one of them. It is also pretty unique because the way it is formated as a choose your own adventure story.

This one is different for me because it is a horror story but also a story by one of the hot authors of the moment. I’m not usually one to read who is in fashion at the moment. Of course, if it is a story that sounds good I’ll read it, but I don’t need to read something because everyone else is reading them.

I’m one of those people who think reading classics sounds like a good idea, pick one up determine to read something good for me and then quickly give up. This one I made it through and actually enjoyed.

Not really a reader of diet blogs or books written by bloggers. This was alright. Didn’t really inspire me to pick up others.

This was a fascinating read and unique because it is a book of short stories and a mix of science and philosophy. Very interesting.

This is one here because it is a book by Patterson that I actually enjoyed. Not a big fan of his writing style. His chapter lengths drive me crazy.

First off Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I know this is a made-up holiday and many people hate this day as much as I hate Mother’s Day. Personally, I don’t really celebrate the holiday beyond using it as an excuse to go out for lunch and justifying a new book purchase. For this week’s list I decided to share my favorite couples from the series I read.

My Ten Favorite Couples

Bones and Cat: I also enjoy the couple in the spin-off Night Prince series almost as much as the original but wanted to limit each author to one spot on this list. This will become more difficult in future picks as you will see. This series, however, was a great example of a strong female paired with a strong male. This series isn’t so much about Cat as it is about the bond and chemistry between her and Bones. They make this world.

Charley and Reyes: How could this couple not be on this list. The dynamics between Charley and Reyes is off the chart! I love watching these two work at couplehood. They are such strong contrasts that can almost seem to flip in an instant. Just when you think you have these two figured out they shift or trade persona and it has your head spinning. Love these two!

Diana & Matthew: Sigh. I so miss these two.

Bride & Vane: This was a difficult series to pick just one couple from. If you know the series it might surprise you that I picked these two. Sure there were lots of great books but when I considered who to select I wanted to go with a couple I enjoyed together not just a book where I had a crush on the male lead. This is probably the earliest case where that happen in the series.

Anna & Charles: What? Why didn’t I pick Mercy and Adam? Because while I love Mercy’s series I often feel that the chemistry between her and Adam falls flat. Anna and Charles have a richer dynamic that I love.

Sookie & Eric: Spoiler alert! But Sookie doesn’t end up with Eric… I know and that is why Ms. Harris is dead to me forever and I will not read another of her books. I LOVED Sookie and Eric together and felt the entire series was about these two coming together only for the author to tear them apart in the last few books to pair Sookie up with the equivalent to a brother. No fire at all between them. Yes, I’m holding a grudge.

Merit & Ethan: As I’ve said before it took me four books to root for these two but when I finally jumped on board these two because one of my favorites. I will miss them.

Raphael & Cyn: These two are hot and fortunately even though the series has moved its focus off of this couple we still get to check in with them every now and again in novellas.

Zsadist & Bella: This is another series where there were so many great couples to choose from I had a difficult time remembering who I enjoyed most. I went with these two because their story is just so phenomenal.

Clare & Henry: The story of these two’s love just breaks my heart. If you want a heart-wrenching bitter-sweet love affair then this is the book for you. That last chapter, that last page man had me wiped out. Such a beautiful story.

There you have some of my favorite couples this Valentine’s Day. Who are some of your favorite couples?

Welcome to another contribution to the wildly popular Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week they ask us to share lists on the following:

January 24: FREEBIE — that super specific list you want to make?? All yours to tackle this week!

Every year I try to pick one book or series to reread. It is my way to justify keeping some of the physical books and series I enjoy. A book/series gets a permanent place on my stacks if I will eventually, someday, in the future reread the title. With my recent cancer scare, hey fun fact I am probably in surgery as you are reading this, I have gone through and weeded my home shelves and reevaluated the books I was holding onto. Some of them I decided to let go because I probably wouldn’t be reading them again. Life is short and if a book/series doesn’t elicit a strong emotion or memory then I am going to let it go. So below you will find my list of books that I loved and hope to recapture the magic I once felt by reading them again.

Ten books that hope to read again some day.

I loved this book but oh man did it make me cry. Big ugly tears for the last third of the book. I will reread this title some day but maybe when I’m not battling a major disease like Cancer… Beautiful story, though.

Another tear jerker here and another beautiful story about love as well. This book can be rather graphic at times but it is so worth the effort. This book will forever have a place on my shelves. Again will probably wait until I am not sick myself to reread this one.

I have almost all the books in the Mercy Thompson series and its spin-off Alpha and Omega series. I hope to reread this world some day but hopefully, I won’t fall out of love with this world before that happens.

I used to reread the Twilight series each year up until I read this book. Haven’t read Twilight since. This is an amazing trilogy and I hope to reread the entire series someday, perhaps right before the author’s promised spin-off prequel book/series

This was the book that made me fall in love with John Scalzi. If you are a fan of Star Trek then you will not want to miss this book. If not then this is still a great read and so much more than a parody of Trek. So good.

I’ve read this series twice already and hope to read it again even though it took me three months last time. With more than 30 books, closer to 40 I think, with all the short stories that it is a massive undertaking. So worth it.

This is another long series but a bit lighter than the last one. This is probably my favorite, still active, fluffy chick-lit paranormal romance series. I have all but one or two of the titles and sometime when I simply need to escape and laugh I will reread this series.

Why yes, I have read this book three times already. I will read it again too, most likely it will be a few years, though. This is probably my favorite book of all time.

Another paranormal series that I enjoy. I meant to reread it before now but simply haven’t made time for it. If there was one series on the list that I might not get to this one would probably be it. I love this world but my taste are changing and maybe fond memories and the current release will be enough with this world.

Love, love, love this series! I would have to say it is my current favorite and I WILL reread this series! I have heard rumors that it might end in a book or two so waiting to reread this series right before reading the last book sounds like the perfect way to say goodbye to this world.

Well, there you have my list for this week. What books do you plan to reread in your life?

On a side note. I am currently in Iowa City today to have my hysterectomy and hopefully, removing all of my cancer. It has been a longer wait than I wanted but much shorter than some women have. I hope everything goes smoothly with no complications. I would greatly appreciate any positive energy you could send my and my husband’s way. I am only 42 so please if you are a woman and experience anything abnormal about your monthly cycle please see a doctor. Your life very well could depend on it. If you want to follow my journey with cancer, hysterectomy surgery and recovery feel free to visit my other blog, What I’m Dealing With.

Welcome to another contribution to the wildly popular Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week they ask us to share lists on the following:

November 22: Thanksgiving freebie — tell us what you are thankful for! Books you are thankful for!

Since I missed last week due to being busy I didn’t want to miss this week’s list as well, so I am carving out time to quickly write-up the reasons I am thankful that I am a reader, even if I haven’t been reading as much as I want to recently…

Ten reasons I’m thankful that I’m a reader.

Escape: Books are the perfect escape from life, from stress, from responsibility. This is probably the main reason I am a reader. It is also the reason I read the books I tend to read. I want to explore new ideas, new concepts of reality, deal with problems that couldn’t occur in my normal day-to-day life. I want to leave my world behind and find some place else to hide out for a few hours.

Mood Changer: Feeling sad? Depressed? Lonely? Reading has the power to help lift you out of your current mood and totally change your attitude. Pick up a fluffy romance to brighten your day. Or something heavier to reassure you that your problems could be much worse. A sappy tear-jerker so you can finally cry it all out and move on with your life. Books have to power to help you express what you are feeling inside.

Hope: Books can also inspire, help remind you of just how great society can be. They can show you a world that could be, something to shoot for, a goal for the life you want to build.

Empathy: Reading fiction also makes you more empathetic. It lets you try on someone else’s shoes for a bit and gain a new perspective on life.

Vocabulary: Now I don’t always demonstrate this, but I love how reading expands one’s vocabulary. Something that often irks non-readers to no end. I’m not using ‘big’ words to make you feel bad (okay, maybe a bit…), mostly though I just like using a rich and diverse vocabulary to express myself. I tend to go through words of the moment, thought, where suddenly start using the same word everywhere, on Facebook, the blog, Instagram, emails… Sometimes repetitively in the same post even. I’m trying to break myself of that but often it slips my notice, so sorry.

No commercials: Books are entertainment without commercials, without interruption, portable, no batteries necessary (for print versions).

Never Bored: If you are a reader you are never bored. (reading slump exceptions aside). If you have access to books you can always find some book to fit your current mood.

Relaxation: Reading is a great way to relax. Goes along with number one on this list, but if I can’t get some reading in my stress levels just keep going up. I need some time in the pages to unwind and let everything go. Reading is my me-time.

Interesting: I also believe that reading makes you a more interesting person. It for all the reasons above and more. Reading opens you up to new ideas and topics. Reading helps round out a personality and can give you a passion that you can share with the world.

Friendship: While reading tends is an activity that is done alone it can also lead to great friendships. Books help us break down barriers and find connection with others that share our love and interest. Even if you don’t read the same you can still bond over the love of reading. Reading, blogging, and reviewing has helped me form friendships that I might not have otherwise and for that I will forever be immensely grateful.

Welcome to another contribution to the wildly popular Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week they ask us to share lists on the following:

November 8: Ten Books I’ve Added To My To-Be-Read List Lately

This week should be a quick list, which is great because I’m blogging when I should be. I have been trying to work on reading more of the books on my to-read list/shelf rather than adding to it lately. There are still a handful of titles that caught my eye recently, thanks, Goodreads Choice Awards… Anyway, here are the last ten books that I added to my long list of I’ll read it eventually. (Please note that this list is filtered a bit. I didn’t want all of the books to be by one author. I’ve been picking up some cheap books while thrifting recently.)

Ten books recently added to my to-read shelf

Added this one this morning while voting on the Goodreads Choice Awards. Book two is up for Science fiction but I have a rule about only adding first in series to the to-read shelf and not entire series. I am also getting better about not picking up later series books if I have not already read at least one in the series already. I might pick up a book two or three, but that is it… unless there are like a bunch in the series also for sale and I can pick them up all at once.

This was another book nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards. Like I need another vampire book to add to my list…

Same as the last two except for this one is a dystopian read. Looked interesting.

This was my latest request from Blogging for Books. Hope I to have this one in my hot little hand soon. Isn’t the cover pretty.

This is another ARC that I requested through Net Galley. Doesn’t come out until Dec 31 but I can read it now. In fact, I just might. Book of short and really short stories by Scalzi, what’s not to love.

This one falls out of my normal reading taste but it one of the several books by the same author (who is really Sherrilyn Kenyon, AKA my favorite author). I’m not sure if I will ever read them but they are nice to have for my Kenyon shrine in the home library.

Scored like all but two books in this series recently while thrifting. What a find! An established series and to have most of the books already on hand so I can zip right through them. Just hope they are good.

Another thrift store find. Can’t remember what it’s about but it might have looked good at the time.

Just picked this one up on Net Galley. Thought it was a request but it was listed as a read now so if it looks interesting to you and you have an account go grab yourself a review copy.

I’ve been enjoying this author’s audiobooks set in the Disk World so I picked up this book of short stories to add to my shelf.

Well, there you have my list for this week. What books have caught your eye recently?

I am really surprised that I actually finished this many books this month. The past two weeks I haven’t even picked up a book other than my audio books. I just have not felt like reading with everything that happen this month I didn’t push myself. If I wanted to curl up on the couch and watch nothing but YouTube while eating popcorn that’s what I did. I am feeling better now though so it worked I guess. My mood has affected my ratings so it is probably best that I stayed away from some of the titles on my to-read-soon list.

Looking Ahead:

I’m hoping to start picking up more books soon. This weekend I am actually out-of-town, again, at my college’s , now a university…, homecoming. It is my 20 year reunion and I am excited to have one friend going for sure. I have picked out a couple of audio books for the drive that I will force my husband to at least attempt to listen to. He is already starting to try to worm his way out of it but we are taking my truck that has a working CD player so no excuses. I am going to try and work in more audio books this month. I found that listening to NF is a great way to fall asleep, keeps your brain occupied so that it doesn’t obsess about stuff. I have also signed up for the Goodreads reading challenge, quite late in the year but hey I want the little badge for my profile. I pledged to read 52 books and I think I will make it, maybe this month even.

Day 30: Your favorite book of all time*.

Really, favorite book of all time and I pick The Martian, something I only read three years ago… Really? Yes, really. Okay, let me explain why there is a little * up there. This is my favorite book of all time for this moment in my life. If I had to pick a book to recommend to any reader without knowing their taste or previous reading history I would pick The Martian. If I had to pick one book to save from my library for the rest of my life, okay I would still pick my Kenyon collection but I would so sneak this title into the mix. You know that Dark-Hunter story set on Mars. I am so grateful for this blog as it was through a review request with Blogging for Books that I was introduced to this title. I knew nothing about it and was simply blown away. I have not read a review title since that has affected me in the same way. Oh sure, I’ve enjoyed a lot of the review titles that I’ve read while book blogging but none of them has impressed me as much as this title and this author. I am desperately waiting for his next book and have added him to my author-met bucket list. This is a great book, an okay movie, and a fun audio book. I know I pimp it a lot on this blog and for that reason alone it is (currently) my favorite book of all time.

Well, we made it! 30 Day Book Challenge complete. I hope you enjoyed this little trip into my reading life for the past 30 days. It was interesting and I’m glad I did it. Not sure I will be doing this sort of thing regularly, but a challenge is good for you every now and again.

Does the 30 Day Book Challenge sound like fun to you? Why not join me! Below is the graphic I borrowed off the internet, feel free to borrow it from me. I will be posting pictures of the books I select each day to my Instagram account too. Be sure to follow me over there to see my picture for today’s selection.